Dr Shirley Sherwood with some of the very many botanical artists in her Collection of Botanical Art - at the Opening Reception for the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery in 2008.

About Dr Shirley Sherwood - the Collection and the Gallery​

First a few words about Shirley Sherwood - the woman who has generated a revival of interest in botanical art across the world since 1990 when she started to collect seriously.

Dr. Shirley Sherwood with one of the first paintings she bought - by Margaret Mee. Seen at the Private Reception for the "Brazil - a Powerhouse of Plants" exhibition in February 2016

Education

Dr Shirley Sherwood has been interested in both plants and art since she was a child.

​She graduated from Oxford University (St. Anne's College) with a degree in botany. Subsequently she earned her D.Phil as part of the research team of Nobel Prize winner Sir James Black, whose group discovered Tagamet, one of the most successful drugs produced for the treatment for duodenal ulcers.

Developing a Collection of Botanical Art

Dr Shirley Sherwood travels extensively and, while on her travels, she began to develop her collection of contemporary botanical illustrations, starting in 1990.

Her now comprehensive collection comprises around 1,000 artworks by over 200 artists, living in 30 different countries.

​It records the the emergence of a new wave of botanical paintings and the renaissance of their art form.

Promoting Botanical Art

Dr Sherwood is not an ordinary collector. She wanted to share the paintings she was collecting.

​She started by exhibiting her collection in various prestigious locations around the world including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Marciana Library in Venice and the Real Jardín Botánico Madrid.

Writing about Botanical Art

​She has also written five books and many articles about botanical art. These are highlighted on this page and other pages of this websiteBooks about Botanical Art

Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection

A Passion For Plants: Contemporary Botanical Masterworks from the Shirley Sherwood Collection

(see the bottom of this page for more about these books)

Books about Exhibitions

A New Flowering: 1000 Years of Botanical Art, by Shirley Sherwood, Stephen Harris & Barrie Edward Juniper. This was the first exhibition catalogue - for the Ashmolean Exhibition in 2005

Treasures of Botanical Art: Icons from the Shirley Sherwood and Kew Collections, by Shirley Sherwood and Martyn Rix - see below

She also contributed an essay to The Flowering Amazon Margaret Mee Paintings from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - see the page on this website About Margaret Mee

​Developing the world's first Gallery of Botanical Art

As her collection grew - and the wall space ran out - she realised it was going to need a proper home. That’s when she developed the idea of a permanent gallery of botanical art.

​Fortunately her family also felt this was a very good idea! Dr. Sherwood and her husband James Sherwood, her two sons and five grandchildren have all generously supported the building of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. See Kew Gardens - two women and two galleries for botanical art

It is now the only purpose-designed gallery in the world which is dedicated solely to botanical art. The gallery was opened in April 2008, and has between 2 – 3,000 visitors a week.

Dr Sherwood is personally involved in the curation of most of the exhibitions of botanical art at the gallery and her Collection can be seen if you visit every exhibition!

​The Veitch Memorial Medal may be awarded annually to persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the art, science or practice of horticulture.RHS People Awards(website)

A Passion for PlantsContemporary Botanical Masterworks by Shirley Sherwood

This is an ESSENTIAL book for any aspiring botanical artist.

​This book focuses on contemporary botanical art from her own collection - and the botanical artists who produced it.

The book focuses on individual artists and how they came to botanical art and developed their careers.

This is the first book by Shirley Sherwood and relates to the first exhibition of her collection. It was seen at:

Kew Gardens Gallery, Kew Botanic Gardens (1 March to 2 June 1996)

The Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation (16 September - 6 December 1996)

​Versions of the exhibition traveled to

the Gibbes Gallery, Charleston (17 January–2 March 1997),

the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. (31 October 1996–12 January 1997),

the New Orleans Museum of Art (1 March–13 April 1997),

The National Arts Club, New York City (3–30 April 1997)

the National Galleries of Scotland in both Inverleith House at the Royal Botanic Garden (Edinburgh) and the Museum of Modern Art (June and July 1997). ​

​The book includes contemporary botanical art and illustration by over 100 artists. The book includes full colour and full page plates plus close ups of some of the works. It's not the same as seeing the artwork up close in an exhibition - but if you're unable to do that this is an excellent opportunity to review the artwork by the artists Dr Sherwood bought between 1990 when she started her collection and 1996 when the book was published.

​The book is no longer in print and if you want a copy you're probably going to have to buy second-hand. A decent copy of the hardback version costs a lot of money!

2017​

​over 80 paintings by British botanical artists from her remarkable collection.

large scale works by Coral Guest, Rosie Sandersand the three Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh artists, Jacqui Pestell MBE, Işık Güner and Sharon Tingey, who painted a stunning life sized portrait of the Titan arum, the largest flower in the world. to capture its growth to over nine feet in just a few days.

This is essentially a biographical exhibition of Joseph Hooker (1817 - 1911) son of the first official Director of Kew and Director himself between 1865-1885. He was a great explorer and one of Victorian Britain’s most important men of science

charts his life and celebrates the years of hard work that earned him the title ‘the king of Kew’

drawings, paintings and prints from his travels to the Antarctic, New Zealand, India and the Himalayas

portraits, photographs, journals and even artefacts belonging to Hooker himself​

2016​

Most of the Japanese artists who contributed contemporary botanical art to this exhibition.

The Flora Japonica exhibition comprises:

botanical paintings contributed by 30 of Japan’s best contemporary artists - painted from specimens collected all over Japan

works by Japanese artists from The Shirley Sherwood Collection

works never before seen outside Japan, including historic drawings and paintings by some of Japan’s most revered botanists and artists, such as Dr Tomitaro Makino (1863 – 1957), Sessai Hattori andChikusai Kato(Edo period artists 1603-1868).

artefacts from Kew's Economic Botany Collectionrelating to Japan - including ten decorative wooden panels dating from 1874, one of only three known collections of its kind in the world,

key botanical illustrations and publications from Kew’s extensive Library, Art and Archives collections. This includes a monumental illustrated manual of medicinal plants from the 17th century.

will add to this incredible insight into the beauty of Japan’s native flora and unique arts and crafts.

After Flora Japonica comes to an end in March 2017 it will move to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, and Tokyo University Museum.

Flora Japonica is supported by the JEC Fund, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation, in partnership with The Japanese Embassy in London.

Flora Japonicaby Martyn Rix and Masumi Yamanaka

This book celebrates the Japanese contemporary artists whose work was exhibited in the Flora Japonica exhibition in Kew Gardens

The book features 80 specially commissioned botanical paintings of Japanese wild plants, contributed by 30 of the country’s best contemporary artists.​Each painting is accompanied by text about the plant, including its natural history as well as botanical description and details of the location and origin of the specimen painted by the artist from life. Biographies of all 30 artists are also included.

Masumi Yamanaka is an award winning botanical artist based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and co-author of Treasured Trees (Kew Publishing, 2015).Martyn Rix is the Editor of Curtis Botanical Magazine

The exhibition focused on botanical art associated with Brazil. It highlighted artists influenced by Brazil and its flora.

Margaret Mee's paintings from 15 trips into the Amazon to record its plant life featured prominently. The exhibition enabled visitors to trace her footsteps via a map of her travels and see other artifacts from her expeditions - including paintbrushes, paint pots and sketchbooks.

The display also included:

copperplate engravings depicting the local flora of Rio de Janeiro, taken from Joseph Banks’ Florilegium – a collection of plates showing the novel plants collected on Captain Cook’s first HMS Endeavour voyage in 1768.

exquisite drawings of orchids by the Victorian artist Sarah Ann Drake which were published in 1838 by botanist and orchidologist John Lindley in Sertum orchidaceum: a wreath of the most beautiful orchidaceous flowers.

The exhibition focuses on fruit and associated plants and includes paintings of fruit and plants by contemporary botanical painters such as Susannah Blaxill, Brigid Edwards, Coral Guest, Kate Nessler and Rosie Sanders. Plus items illustrating fruit, from Kew’s Library, Art and Archives collections, including works by Georg Dionysius Ehret, Pierre Redoute and by Indian artists from the Company School.

Masumi Yamanaka with her paintings in the main gallery of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art

This was the main exhibition through the Spring and Summer in the Main Gallery. Masumi Yamanaka's aim was to raise our appreciation of the remarkable heritage trees at Kew Gardens. Her illustrations focus on the whole tree, foliage and flowers and where relevant the fruit of the heritage trees.

The wisdom of making records of the trees was neatly illustrated when the pine on the cover of the exhibition publication lost branches in a storm before it opened!​

Masumi wants the paintings of Kew's Heritage Trees to stay in the Art Collection at Kew and together they are seeking sponsorship for individual paintings. See the Sponsorship leaflet below to find out how this works

​This is the catalogue produced in association with the exhibition. illustrates with forty paintings created exclusively for this collection.

Forty of the heritage trees - the oldest and finest trees growing at the gardens at Kew Gardens - has been illustrated by Japanese artist Masumi Yamanaka. Her paintings comprise the whole tree and fine details of the different stages of foliage and flowers throughout the year. She also comments on the process of painting each tree.

Martyn Rix describes the natural distribution and cultivation history of the trees. The book is introduced by a chapter on the history of tree collecting written by Christina Harrison and the importance of trees today.

The Joy of Spring - an exhibition of works in the Shirley Sherwood Collection(Link Gallery)includes paintings from the past and present which include spring flowers - snowdrops, camellias, daffodils, bluebells and magnolias

Some of the paintings in the exhibition
Far Left: Susan Christopher Coulson
Next: Snowdrops by Kate Nessler

The exhibition Flowering Bulbs and Tubers (Galleries two, three and four) Paintings for sale by members of the Dutch Society of Botanical Artists. This exhibition focuses on bulbs such as tulips, irises and hippeastrums.

2014

A view of the main gallery for 'Botanical Art in the 21st Century' (courtesy of Jess Shepherd)

Botanical Art in the 21st Century- 8 February to 10 August 2014​This exhibition celebrated the remarkable worldwide renaissance of botanical art and demonstrates traditional and contemporary painting techniques

Paintings that inspired the Shirley Sherwood Collection were on display . These showed the evolution of Dr Shirley Sherwood’s passion for botanical art and her connection to Kew which started from the age of 13 after her first visit to the Herbarium.

Pandora Sellar’s Laelia tenebrosa, the first botanical watercolour that Dr. Sherwood bought from the Kew Gardens Gallery in 1990 will be on display, together with other works purchased from Kew and from some of the artists she sought out on her travels around the world.

Pandora Sellar’s 'Laelia tenebrosa' - the very first painting bought by Dr Sherwood

2013

2013 had some great exhibitions!​

Rory McEwen - The Colours Of Reality(11 May to 22 September 2013) Rory McEwen's Legacy (13 April - January 2014) - this exhibition was of artwork inspired by Rory McEwen in the Shirley Sherwood Collection

Rory McEwen The Colours of Reality was a major and much visited retrospective exhibition in 2013. People flew into the UK to see it! It featured botanical art loaned from the family of Rory McEwen and from private collectors around the world.

Rory McEwen was a very influential in terms of the development of contemporary botanical art. His paintings, once seen, are never ever forgotten. His artwork is included in private and public collections across the globe, including the British Museum; V&A; Tate; National Gallery of Modern Art, Scotland; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Hunt Institute, Pittsburgh; and MOMA, New York.

Click the link in his name to read more about him and his work on this website.

Dr. Shirley Sherwood with two English Florist (flamed) Tulips grown by the Wakefield Tulip Society and painted by Rory McEwen

This was an exhibition of botanical art by two botanical artists Sue Wickison and Sue J Williams. The theme was 'opposites and contrasts' and the aim was to show the variations in colour within an apparently restricted palette of black and white. Sue Wickison's website - Black and White in Colour - includes access to images displayed in the exhibition

2011​

The exhibition featured paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection of

endangered plants from over thirty countries around the world, with particular emphasis on South African plants. Nearly 40% of the indigenous species of South Africa are threatened, primarily due to loss of habitat.

paintings of horticultural plants from around the world which are now extinct or rare in the wild. Examples include Pauline Dean’s 'Jade Vine' from the Philippines and Manabu Saito’s 'Ginkgo biloba' from China.

information about conservation initiatives in place to protect plants.

This was an exhibition by the American Society of Botanical Artists. The Losing Paradise project began in 2006 with the aim of illustration two important themes:

the continuing relevance of botanical art

the often neglected story of plant endangerment. The decline of the world’s plant life is one of the most significant issues of our time.

It featured 44 botanical works of art portraying endangered plants around the world in a variety of media.

The Smallest Kingdom: Plants and Plant Collectors at the Cape of Good Hope

South Africa has the greatest diversity of flora in the world for its size. The Cape is a biodiversity hotspot. It has more than nine thousand distinct plant species, thirty percent of which are native only to the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004

This book is a celebration of the plants of the Cape and the people who found them. ​It provides an illustrated account of the botanical exploration of South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom and its plants. It is illustrated throughout with paintings in full colour

This is a book which will be valued by botanists, conservationists, botanical artists, naturalists, gardeners and visitors to the Cape of Good Hope.

2010

68 contemporary works from the Shirley Sherwood Collection, including works by Margaret Mee, Alvaro Núñez and Etienne Demonte,

Curated by Dr. Shirley Sherwood and Pilar de San Pío Aladren (Real Jardín Botánico of Madrid)

“South American artists have contributed greatly to the development of botanical art, and my collection has over a hundred works from the region. It is thrilling to exhibit paintings by such talented contemporary artists with artworks from the Mutis Collection which have never before been on show. This exhibition is a great introduction to thevariety and beauty of South America’s splendid plants. The works are so remarkable that they are bound to cause a stir in both botanical and artistic worlds” Dr Shirley Sherwood

Old and New South American Art​by M Pilar de San Pio Aladren and Shirley Sherwood

Official publication to coincide with the exhibition in 2010.

I've got a copy of this book which it now appears is impossible to buy. I can't find it online on Amazon or in any of the online bookshops.

However it does follow the pattern of other catalogues produced for exhibitions in the Gallery and has very good quality reproduction of images of paintings in the Mutis and Shirley Sherwood Collections. The older paintings are juxtaposed with those of contemporary artists painting the same plants.

2009​

136 paintings by 84 artists covered 50 orders of plants in 118 families for a total of 133 species.

Neatly combining art and science, the exhibition displayed the botanical paintings in the latest evolutionary sequence revealed by recent DNA analysis. This is within the context of recent genetic discoveries having changed both the nomenclature and evolutionary sequence of many plants during the last ten years. Species covered in the exhibition ranged from fungi to daisies and included algae, mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants.

Official publication to coincide with the Art of Plant Evolution exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art

Extensively and beautifully illustrated, with over 200 illustrations, including 136 botanical paintings from the Shirley Sherwood Collection plus text providing information on the painting and artist, the species, plant family and interesting facts on geography, special characteristics, origin of names, and plant uses

a ‘tree of plant evolution’ showing current understanding on how different orders of plants are related.

Discover exceptional Australian and New Zealand botanical artists from The Shirley Sherwood Collection; including Susannah Blaxill, Paul Jones, Bryan Poole, Celia Rosser and more. The paintings featured range from flower studies and still lifes to detailed botanical illustrations of native plants, showing a great range of styles and techniques. Studies are in watercolour on paper or vellum, gouache, acrylic or coloured pencil and copper plate etching. Most of the work has been executed in Australia or New Zealand but many of the artists are widely travelled and have lived or taught in Europe and elsewhere.

The Power of Plants (​until 26 July 2009)

This was a selection of botanical drawings, paintings and illustrations of plants from the Kew Collection that either have an economic value or have some component which is essential to human well-being.

The Power of Plants brings together historic and contemporary paintings from this collection to celebrate plants that are essential to human well-being. Paintings by artists such as Ferdinand Bauer, Georg Dionysius Ehret and Marianne North feature, as well as illustrations from the ‘Company School’, the often unrecorded Indian artists commissioned by the merchants and officials of the East India Company. Works from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine,such as illustrations by Sydenham Teast Edwards (1768-1819), are also displayed. Contemporary artists include Christabel King and Victoria Goaman.Kew Press Release

In Search of Gingers - Galleries 3 and 4 (finishing 16th August 2009)

​This was an exhibition of works by Sandy Ross Sykesfinishing 16th August 2009. It's previously been exhibited in Hong Kong by the British Council.

The exhibition comprised sketchbooks, records from her journals, artifacts collected en route and the final paintings. It's organised around her journies and search for different gingers. Each journey to different parts of South East Asia is described.

The Linnean Society honoured Sandy Ross-Sykes with a Fellowship for her work on the Zingiberaceae species.

There are currently over 1,200 known varieties of Zingiberaceae species in South East Asia. By exhibiting her work, Sykes aims to raise public awareness of the species, and so help safeguard their natural habitats. Illegal logging, pollution, and urbanisation are three of the main problems facing this fascinating and economically significant family of plants.

Sandy Ross-Sykes website | copyright the artist

2008​

Opening Day - 19th April 2008 - of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew

Treasures of Botanical Art: Icons from the Shirley Sherwood and Kew Collections(April - October 2008)

This was the inaugural exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art - which opened on 19th April 2008.

​It is not an exaggeration to describe the examples of artwork included in this exhibition from both collections as 'iconic'.

There are 184 paintings on display, of which about two thirds are from the Shirley Sherwood Collection and about a third from the Kew Collection. The exhibition is organised so that works are presented in terms of the type of flower or plant with historical and modern art hanging side by side.'Kew opens the world's first dedicated botanical art gallery'

Treasures of Botanical Art by Shirley Sherwood and Martin Rix

HIGHLY RECOMMENDEDThe book focuses on the botanical artworks in the exhibition in terms of their place in the history of botanical art and in relation to the plants they portray. Images are largely organised according to themes and so paintings completed many years apart are presented side by side. At the end of the book are biographies of all the artists whose work is reproduced in the book. Book review: Treasures of Botanical Art

This is the book produced for the inaugural exhibition - which I bought on the opening day of the exhibition. It's a classic!

The exhibition comprised some 180+ paintings of which around two thirds were by contemporary artists (and from the Sherwood Collection) and one third were by past masters and formed part of Kew's prestigious collection of botanical art. In the exhibition and the book the artworks from past and present were placed side by side. The book also tells the story of the development of botanical art and of the two collections.

It's a book I highly recommend to all botanical art lovers and the students and artists who want to see the sort of standards achieved by contemporary artists. It's also a useful reference books for those artists who provide tuition in botanical art - however this is not a "how to" book.

My own view is that this will become a landmark publication which is why I bought the hardback version!

Note: Martyn Rix is the editor of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, which is the longest running botanical periodical in the world.

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